militia groups
Unofficial armed forces
Militia groups are armed civilian organizations that operate outside official military structures.
In U.S. context, the term typically refers to paramilitary groups organized around anti-government ideology, Second Amendment advocacy, or preparation for perceived threats to liberty.
Federal investigators monitor militia groups for extremist activity.
The term can also apply neutrally to any organized citizen defense force.
- paramilitaryUnofficial armed organization
- insurgencyArmed uprising against authority
- separatistAdvocate for breaking away
- nationalistOne prioritizing homeland interests
- resistanceCapacity to withstand force
guerrilla · anti-government · civil unrest · clandestine · defense · local · vigilantism · border patrol · decentralized · outlawed · oath · protection · citizen soldiers · underground · tribal · rogue · religious · self-determination
- radicalismradical, extremism, radicalism, militancy, fanaticism
- AfghanistanKabul, Kandahar, Pashtun, Tajik, Helmand
- global threatsterrorism, nuclear war, cyberattacks, pandemic, nuclear weapons
- Shia IslamAli, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Hussein, Hussain, imam
- extremistsextremists, extremist, fanatics, fanatic, radicals
- far rightfascism, neo-Nazism, neofascism, white supremacy, Nazism
militia groupsstanding army
Continuously maintained military force
regular army · federal troops · career soldiers · defense forces · national guard